lovejoy



No, 609,686. Patented Aug. 23, |898. 1 C. C. LOVEJDY.

MUVABL'E CAISSON.

(Application filed Feb. 19, 1898.)

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No. 609,686. Patented Aug. 23, |898.

C. C. LUVEJOY. C

MDVABLE CAISSOIL (Application med Fab. 19, lesa.) (No Model.) l 2Sheets-Sheet 2.V

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NTTED STATES f PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES CLAYTON LOVEJ OY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MQ'VABL CAISSON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 609,686, dated August23, 1898. Application filed February 19, 1898. Serial No. 670,889. (Nomodel.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that 4I, CHARLEs CLAYTON LOVEJOY, of the city of New York,borough of Manhattan, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented a new and Improved Movable Caisson, of which the followingis a full,clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved caissonmore especially designed for use on frozen ground, in rivers, streams,and other waterways having bottoms of gold-bearing sand, the caissonbeing arranged to permit of floating it about from one place to another,to sink or raise it at will, and to provide a comfortable workingchamber for miners to work in when the caisson is in a lowermostposition to obtain the precious metal from the gold-bearing sand.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations ofthe same, as will be described hereinafter and then pointed out in theclaims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification,

in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts inall the figures.

Figure l is a sectional side elevation of the improvement on the linel lof Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the improvement. Fig. 3 is atransverse section of the same on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. t isa sectional plan view of the same on the line 4 4 of Fig. l.

The movable caisson hereinafter more fully described is more especiallydesigned for use in the Klondike and other northern regions where theground even down to bed-rock is almost throughout the year in a frozenstate and it becomes necessary for a miner to first remove a largeamount of frozen material before the goldbearing material is reached.Experience has proven that the only practif cable way to handle thisfrozen material is to first thaw it out and then treat the thawedmaterial the same as ordinary gold-bearing sand to obtain the preciousmetal. In order to facilitate the thawing-out process and to enable theminer to comfortably work in winter and summer and to at once handle thematerial and separate the gold from the tail ings is the object of themovable caisson, presently to be described in detail.

able deck E.- The working chamber C is provided with a bottom formedprincipally of a series of doors F, each adapted to be swung into anopen position, as indicated at the left in Fig. 3, to permit the minersin the chamber C to reach the sand in the sand-bed, in which the lowerend of the casing is embedded. Each of the doors F is connected with thelower end of a rope or chain F', passing over pulleys F2 to a windlassF3 on the deck E, so that thedoor F can be readily raised or swung intoan open position from the deck of the casing, as hereinafter more fullydescribed. v

y The doors F are made hollow to form steamspaces, and the sides G ofthe chamber C are likewise made hollow to form steam-spaces, said hollowsides being connected by pipes H' with the interior of the doors F, sothat steam introduced into the sides Giv by the pipes H can also passinto the doors F, so that the sides and bottom of the chamber C areheated, and as the said sides and bottoms come in contact with thematerial the latter is readily thawed out to permit of convenientlyworking it to obtain the gold-bearing sand. The pipes H extend to thedeck E and are connected at their 'upper ends with a suitablesteam-supply either on the caisson or on a separate iioat or on shore,as the case may be.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, two rows of doors F are employed, hinged tothe sides of the chamber and resting with their free ends on alongitudinally-extending hollow beam F4, forming part of the bottom ofthe chamber. Access is had to the working chamber C through an air-shaftI, extending from the partition B upward beyond the deck E, and in thesaid air-shaft are arranged air-locks I' l2 I3, of which the lower oneopens down into the chamber C. The air=locks are successively opened andclosed to permit the miners to pass down into the chamber C, filled withcompressed air while in use, the shaft, as Well as the chamber, beingprovided with suitable ladders I4 to permit the operators to readilypass down into the chamber and up the shaft or down the same, as thecase may be.

In the hollow beam F4 are arranged a number of valved pipes J, whichopen at their lower ends into the river, the valves of the pipes havingtheir stems J extended up through a pipe J2, which leads from near thebottoni of the chamber Cinto the compartment D. Suitable branch pipes J3 extend from the pipe J2 into the compartment D. The latter may beseparated by cross-partitions into small compartments, each of which isconnected with one or more pipes J3 by the pipe J2. The upper end of thestem J is within reach of an operator on the deck E, so that the valvesin the pipes J can be opened to allow water to fiow from the river intothe workingchamber C at the time the bottom doors F are closed. This isdone for filling the chamber with a sufficient amount of water to causethe caisson to settle. Now when air is forced into the chamber C thenthe pressure on the water forces the latter up ther pipes J2 and throughthe branch pipes J 3 to l lll the compartments D, the water forming theload to hold the caisson in place.

In winter it is not desirable to ll the compartments with a water-loadfrom the chamber C, and in this case the valves in the branch pipes J 3are closed and the valves in i the pipes J opened to allow the water toiiow through the pipes J back into the river when the air-pressure is onthe water in the chamber.

An equivalent solid load of stone, rock, old iron, &c., is in this caseused .in the compartments D instead of the Water-load.

An air-pipe K opens into the upper portion l of the chamber C andextends through the4 compartment D to the deck E, to be connected therewith a suitable source of compressed-air supply either on the caisson oron a ioat or on shore, as the case may be.v

From the compartment D lead valved outlet-pipes L L through the wall ofthe casing A to the outside thereof to relieve the compartment D of itswater-load whenever desired, as hereinafter more fully explained. One ormore discharge-pipes N lead from the chamber C up through thecompartment D and deck E to terminate at their upper ends in a gooseneckN', which discharges over the side of the casing' A into the river. Thelower end of each pipe N is formed with an adjustable flexible sleeveN2, the lower end of which is brought into the tailings, so that thelatter are forced by compressed air through the sleeve and up the pipe Nand gooseneck N to be finally disharged back into the river.

The operation is as follows: When the doors F are closed and the casingA is empty,

the caisson is in the form of a floating vessel, readily iioated aboutfrom one place to another. When a desired spot has been reached,

position.

tends a vsuitable distance above the waterlevel. Compressed air is nowpassed through the pipe K into the working chamber C to force the watertherein through the pipes J2 and J 3 into the water-loading compartmentD, so as to maintain the caisson in this position 'and at the same timefree the working chamber of water` Now in case the river-bed is frozensteam is passed into the sides G and doors F to readily thaw thematerial covered by the caisson and located in the immediateneighborhood thereof. The doors F are now opened from above, and minerscan pass down into the Working chamber C by way of the air-shaft andtheseveral air-locks. The thawed ground can now be easily manipulated inthe usual manner to separate the precious metal from the gold, thetailings being brought to the discharge-nozzle N2 and forced up throughthe latter into and up the pipe N by the compressed air contained in thechamber C. Thus the tailings are readily removed from the workingchamber, and the gold is removed from time to time either by beingcarried up through the air-shaft I or by special buckets or elevators.(Not shown.) As the digging progresses in the bottom of the chamber Cthe caisson sinks farther down, so that the entire strata downtobed-rock can be readily worked before moving the caisson to another Whenthe operation is completed at this particular point and it is desired tomove the caisson to another place, then the doors F are again closed,the workmen leave the chamber C by way of the shaft I and close thelocks therein, and then the upper valved outlet-pipes L are opened topermit the water contained in the compartment D to discharge through thewalls of the casing into the river. As the caisson is relieved graduallyof its water-load it rises, and the water-compartment D below the valvedpipes L is then discharged by opening the lower valve-pipes L', so thatthe caisson is finally relieved of nearly all the water and forms afloating vessel which can be readily towed to another place. Theabovedescribed operation is then repeated-that is, the valved pipes Lare closed, the valved pipes J are opened to fill the working chamber Cwith waterto sink the caisson, and then the water isforced out of theworking chamber into the compartment D to load the latter and keep thecaisson down.

By dividing the compartment D into small compartments I am enabled toarrange the waterload in such a manner that the caisson is not liable totilt to one side in case loose material is, encountered at one side ofthe caissoni IOO Having thus fully described my invention, I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. A caisson, provided with ashell or casing, a working chamber in the lower portion of the casing,and a water-loading compartment above the working chamber and adapted tobe filled with water from the said chamber to form a deck-load to keepthe casing in position, substantially as shown and described. t

2. Acaisson provided with a casing, a working chamber in the lowerportion of the said casing, and provided with doors in the bottom foropening the chamber to the sand-bed, and when closed permitting ofconverting the caisson into a Iloating vessel, and an air-supply for thesaid working chamber for forcing the water out of the chamber at thetime the doors are closed, and for keeping the riverwater out of thechamber when the doors are opened,substantially as shown and described.

3. A caisson provided with a casing, a water-loading compartment in theupper portion of the casing, a Working chamber in the lower part of thecasing, a compressed-air-supply pipe opening into the working chamber,and water-pipes leading from the working chamber to theloading-compartment, so that the water is forced by the compressed airfrom the working chamber into the loading-compartment, substantially asshown and described.

4. A caisson provided with a casing, a water-loading compartment in theupper portion of the casing, a working chamber in the lower part of thecasing, a compressed-air-supply pipe opening into the working chamber,water-pipesleadiug from the working chamber into theloading-compartment, so that the Wa ter is forced by the compressed airfrom the working chamber into the loading-compartment, and doors in thebottom of the said working chamber, to give access to the sand in thebed of the waterway, substantially as shown and described.

5. A caisson provided with a casing, a working chamber in the lowerportion of the casing, a water-loading compartment in the upper part ofthe casing, means for emptying the water from the working chamber intothe loading compartment, and means for discharging the water from theloading-compartment to float the caisson, substantially as shown anddescribed.

6. A caisson provided with a working chamber havinghollow bottom doors,and means for heating the same to thaw the bed with which the doors arein contact, substantially as shown and described.

7. A caisson provided with a working chamber having hollow sides andhollow bottom doors, and means for heating the said sides and doors,substantially as shown and described. i

CHARLES CLAYTON LOVEJOY.

Witnesses:

THEO. G. I-Ios'rER, EvERARD BOLTON MARSHALL.

